80_FR_60904 80 FR 60710 - Announcement of Requirements and Registration for a Prize Competition Seeking Methods or Devices That can Quantify Drift Invertebrates in River and Estuary Systems

80 FR 60710 - Announcement of Requirements and Registration for a Prize Competition Seeking Methods or Devices That can Quantify Drift Invertebrates in River and Estuary Systems

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 194 (October 7, 2015)

Page Range60710-60712
FR Document2015-25319

The Bureau of Reclamation, in collaboration with other federal agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) is announcing a prize competition for seeking a way to economically detect, count, and identify zooplankton and drift invertebrates in river and estuary systems. Problems identified that prevent the simple transfer of oceanographic techniques to rivers and streams are higher water velocities, turbidity, higher surface/depth ratio, and costs (time and money).

Federal Register, Volume 80 Issue 194 (Wednesday, October 7, 2015)
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 194 (Wednesday, October 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60710-60712]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-25319]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

[RR0810000, 15XR0680A1, RY.1541CH20.1430001]


Announcement of Requirements and Registration for a Prize 
Competition Seeking Methods or Devices That can Quantify Drift 
Invertebrates in River and Estuary Systems

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation, in collaboration with other federal 
agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National 
Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) is announcing a 
prize competition for seeking a way to economically detect, count, and 
identify zooplankton and drift invertebrates in river and estuary 
systems. Problems identified that prevent the simple transfer of 
oceanographic techniques to rivers and streams are higher water 
velocities, turbidity, higher surface/depth ratio, and costs (time and 
money).

DATES: Listed below are the specific dates pertaining to this prize 
competition:
    1. Submission period begins on October 7, 2015.
    2. Submission period ends on November 16, 2015.
    3. Judging period ends on January 15, 2016.
    4. Winners announced by January 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: The Quantifying Drift Invertebrates in River and Estuary 
Systems Prize Competition will be posted on the following crowd-
sourcing platforms where Solvers can register for this prize 
competition:
    1. The Water Pavilion located at the InnoCentive Challenge Center: 
https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/browse.
    2. U.S. Federal Government Challenge Platform: www.Challenge.gov.
    3. The Nature Open Innovation Pavilion at http://www.nature.com/openinnovation/index.html.
    4. The Scientific American Citizen Science Center at http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/.
    InnoCentive, Inc. is administering this challenge under a challenge 
support services contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. These Web 
sites will re-direct the Solver community to the InnoCentive Challenge 
Center as the administrator for this prize competition. Additional 
details for this prize competition, including the Challenge Agreement 
specific for this prize competition, can be accessed through any of 
these prize competition web addresses. The Challenge Agreement contains 
more details of the prize competition rules and terms that Solvers must 
agree with to be eligible to compete.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Challenge Manager: Dr. David Raff 
Science Advisor, Bureau of Reclamation, (202) 513-0516, [email protected]; 
or Mr. Chuck Hennig, (303) 445-2134, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bureau of Reclamation is announcing this 
prize competition in compliance with 15 U.S. Code 3719, Prize 
Competitions. Habitat restoration, improvement, and creation in rivers, 
streams, and estuaries are key elements for the recovery of salmon, 
trout, and other critical fish species in the United States. Millions 
of dollars are spent annually on activities such as manipulating flow 
regimes, adding structural elements such as wood or rock, reconnecting 
rivers with their floodplains, and restoring wetlands. A critical 
aspect in evaluating the effectiveness of these habitat manipulations 
is understanding how they influence the food resources available to 
critical fish species targeted for recovery and protection. Yet despite 
its importance, quantification of food resources has proven difficult.
    A solution is being pursued through a prize competition because the 
Bureau of Reclamation and the collaborating Federal agencies want to 
seek innovative solutions from those beyond the usual sources of 
potential solvers and experts that commonly work in the fish recovery 
management domain. We find ourselves often wondering if somebody, 
somewhere may know a better way to quantify the availability of food 
sources for threatened and endangered fish. The prize competition 
approach enables us to reach new sources of potential solvers to 
discover other technologies that could be adopted for this purpose; or 
generate new solutions that would not likely be accomplished by 
standard contractual methods.
    Challenge Summary: Accurate food counts, such as zooplankton and 
drift invertebrates, are instrumental in fish habitat evaluation and 
restoration in our rivers and streams. Although technology has been 
developed for automated detection and identification of zooplankton and 
drift invertebrates in oceanographic settings, they have not been 
developed for the unique environmental conditions in rivers and 
estuaries. High flow rates and turbidity cause problems with automated 
visual systems used today. The main obstacle in estuaries is turbidity 
while the main obstacle in river systems is flow velocity. In addition, 
the horizontal nature of rivers invokes problems not encountered in 
deep ocean waters (e.g., sunlight effects at the surface of water and 
the mixing of food sources throughout the water column in rivers due to 
turbulence as opposed to more stratified food webs in ocean waters). We 
would like to identify devices/methods that can detect, count, and 
identify zooplankton and drift invertebrates in an economical way in 
rivers and estuary systems. There is potential for future collaboration 
with the Seeker in developing and testing winning solutions.
    This is a Theoretical Challenge that requires only a written 
proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be contingent upon 
theoretical evaluation of the proposal by the Bureau of Reclamation 
(Seeker). The Seeker has a total prize pool budget of $30,000 to pay 
the top three submission(s) that meet or exceed the criteria below, an 
award of $10,000 each. No awards are guaranteed unless they meet or 
exceed the criteria, and more than one award is not guaranteed. If only 
a single submission meets or exceeds the criteria, the prize award may 
be as high as $15,000.
    To receive an award, the Solvers will not have to transfer their 
exclusive intellectual property rights to the Seeker. Instead, they 
will grant to the Seeker a non-exclusive license to practice their 
solutions.
    The Seeker believes there might be a potential for future 
collaboration with awarded Solver(s), although such collaboration is 
not guaranteed. The Seeker may also encourage Solver(s) to

[[Page 60711]]

further develop and test their winning submissions through subsequent 
round(s) of competition. Solvers should mention if they have the 
ability for subsequent design and development phases and would be 
willing to consider future collaborations and/or subsequent 
competitions.
    Background: Habitat restoration is considered a key element of fish 
recovery, and the quality of habitat and food resources available to 
fish often needs to be evaluated before and after restoration actions. 
Habitats are often designed to provide increased foraging and rearing 
habitats at appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Abundance of key 
food resources for fish such as zooplankton and drift invertebrate (1 
mm to 20 mm in size) is time-intensive and expensive to measure, 
especially for juvenile salmon in a highly dynamic and complex system 
such as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (California).
    Traditional sampling methods involve the use of towed nets (for 
slow-moving water) or stationary nets (for fast-moving water) that 
collect organisms from the water column. Both the field collection of 
samples and the subsequent sorting and identification of collected 
invertebrates are time-intensive and expensive, and agencies lacking 
technical expertise must often rely on outside experts to process 
samples. Because of the high costs associated with these traditional 
methods, the spatial and temporal extent of sampling is often 
inadequate to characterize food availability at scales that are 
biologically relevant.
    In the marine science community, significant advances have been 
made in plankton monitoring through the use of devices that capture 
high-resolution images of particles (>100 [micro]m) and invertebrates. 
These devices produce a catalog of time-stamped images that can be 
processed to various taxonomic levels with image analysis software, 
allowing the abundance of organisms in a known volume of water to be 
quantified. Examples can be found in the following links: http://jaffeweb.ucsd.edu/node/317, http://www.artynet.fr/hydropticREDIRIDEM/uvp.html.
    Analogous technologies for freshwater environments do not exist, 
but could be developed to continuously monitor the prey abundances and 
dynamics in key locations for migrating and rearing fishes. Pilot 
systems have been tested in the freshwater environment, but there have 
been problems with image capture, leading to poor image quality 
(blurred) and poor identification (low probability of differentiating 
target organisms from drift algae, detritus and other materials). The 
difficulties during the pilot were likely caused by

 High water velocity
 Low water clarity (turbidity)
 Small target size (1-20 mm)

    Another big difference between the marine ocean environment and the 
freshwater and estuarine environment is that ocean monitoring tends to 
be vertical (in the water column) and items on the surface are not a 
large percentage of the whole so they can be ignored. In a stream, 
items on the surface are a high percentage of the overall water column, 
and sunlight at the surface affects the imaging equipment considerably. 
It is difficult to get accurate measurements if targeted items on the 
surface are ignored.
    The Challenge: A device/method is sought that could be deployed to 
collect data continuously (over hours, preferably days) to capture 
tidal and day/night variation in prey abundance in rivers and streams. 
By simultaneously deploying multiple units, scientists could measure 
important spatial and temporal variation such as depth stratification 
and source/sink food web dynamics.
    The device/method must detect, count, and identify drift 
invertebrates automatically in a size range of 1 to 20 mm in a cost-
effective method.
    Our goal is to identify ideas and help promote their testing and 
manufacture for use in the industry. There is potential for awarded 
Solvers who are interested to continue in the development of these 
ideas for a commercial product.
    Multiple government agencies would likely be interested in this 
solution (Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National Marine Fisheries 
Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State Fish and Wildlife 
agencies, and others).

Things To Avoid

    1. Equipment made today for oceanographic study--although a good 
place to start, we are familiar with what exists and our Challenge is 
to go beyond what exists for our particular problems in freshwater 
systems.
    2. A simple list of equipment without explanation of how they work 
in concert will not suffice as a description of the system.

Any Proposed Solution Should Address the Following Technical 
Requirements

Must Haves

    1. The device/method should be able to:
    a. Detect representative samples of drift invertebrates (1-20 mm). 
This should include those targeted items floating on the surface to a 
high degree as well as those in the water column. Representative 
samples of drift invertebrates in California and other localities are 
available at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Aquatic 
Bioassessment Laboratory digital reference collections (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/abl/Lab/referencecollection.asp).
    b. Count the targeted items in samples (sort out debris from 
targeted zooplankton and invertebrates to minimize false positives).
    c. Identify the number and taxonomic family (or groups of 
morphologically similar families) of specimens detected (Note: exact 
identification of each species is not as critical as identification of 
the total amount of food available to fish).
    2. Requirement no. 1 must be done under the following conditions:
    a. Velocities between 0 and 1.5 meters per second.
    b. Turbidity between 0 and 100 Nephelometric Turbidity Units.
    c. Function in shallow water (less than 1 m) and deep water (up to 
20m).
    d. Function over a long period of continuous deployment (greater 
than 24 hours but preferably many days).
    e. Operate without natural light (at night or dark spaces, provides 
own light source as needed).
    f. Operate under bright light conditions near the surface in the 
daytime.
    3. If the device is submersible in water, it should be durable 
enough to be deployable when towed off a boat.
    4. If optical, it should be able to capture images without a blur.
    5. The device/method must be able to accurately sample and image 
available drift invertebrates (food) with 95 percent accuracy.
    6. The device/method must measure the size of each target item 
within 0.5 mm or 10 percent of item size.
    7. The total cost of the equipment should be targeted to not exceed 
$100K when produced in larger quantities.
    8. The proposed system should offer the Seeker client ``freedom to 
practice.'' There should be no third-party patent art preventing the 
use of specific equipment and materials for their commercial 
application.

Nice to Have

    Include ability to measure flow entering device, such that number 
of food particles per volume of water is estimable.
    Project Deliverables: This is a Theoretical Challenge that requires 
only

[[Page 60712]]

a written proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be 
contingent upon theoretical evaluation of the proposal by the Seeker. 
The submitted proposal should include the following:
    1. Detailed description of a method/device that can detect, count, 
and identify drift invertebrates in fresh water rivers and streams. The 
Solver must describe with a high level of technical detail as to how 
the system would meet or not meet each of the ``must have'' and ``nice 
to have'' attributes in Technical Requirements described above. The 
Solver should expect that their submittal will be reviewed by experts 
in the field of biology and multiple fields of engineering.
    2. Rationale as to why the Solver believes that the proposed 
method/device will work. This rationale should address each of the 
Technical Requirements described in the Detailed Description and should 
be supported with relevant examples.
    3. The active principle applied for detection and quantification 
shall be described in detail. The detecting technology shall be 
described in detail. Potential technology suppliers shall be 
identified.
    4. Sufficient data to support claims, if available.
    5. List of equipment required with cost estimates.
    6. The Solver needs to describe how deployable and workable the 
system would be under a wide variety of environmental conditions 
including water depths, light, turbidity, salinity, velocities, and 
turbulence such as those found in small to large streams in the western 
United States.
    The proposal should not include any personal identifying 
information (name, username, company, address, phone, email, personal 
Web site, resume, etc.).
    The Challenge award will be contingent upon theoretical evaluation 
of the proposal by the Seeker against the Technical Requirements.
    Solutions that meet the requirements will also be judged on the 
following items in order of priority:
     Practical feasibility;
     Detection precision;
     Manufacturing cost;
     Required power source; and
     Extra weight/space;
     Time to market.
    Judging: After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will evaluate the 
submissions and make a decision with regards to the winning 
solution(s). All Solvers that submitted a proposal will be notified on 
the status of their submissions. However, no detailed evaluation of 
individual submissions will be provided. Decisions by the Seeker cannot 
be contested.
    Submitted solutions will be evaluated by a Judging Panel composed 
of scientists, engineers, and other related technical experts. The 
Judging Panel will also have consultation access to technical experts 
outside of their expertise, as determined necessary, to evaluate 
specific submissions.
    Eligibility Rules: To be able to win a prize under this 
competition, an individual or entity must:
    1. Agree to the rules of the competition (15 U.S. Code 3719(g)(1));
    2. Be an entity that is incorporated in and maintains a primary 
place of business in the United States, or (b) in the case of an 
individual, a citizen or permanent resident of the United States (15 
U.S. Code 3719(g)(3));
    3. Not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the 
scope of their employment; (15 U.S. Code 3719(g)(4));
    4. Assume risks and waive claims against the Federal Government and 
its related entities (15 U.S. Code 3719(i)(1)(B)); and,
    5. Not use Federal facilities, or consult with Federal employees 
during the competition unless the facilities and employees are made 
available to all individuals and entities participating in the 
competition on an equitable basis.
    The following individuals or entities are not eligible regardless 
of whether they meet the criteria set forth above:
    1. Any individual who employs an evaluator on the Judging Panel or 
otherwise has a material business relationship or affiliation with any 
Judge.
    2. Any individual who is a member of any Judge's immediate family 
or household.
    3. The Seeker, participating organizations, and any advertising 
agency, contractor or other individual or organization involved with 
the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the 
prize competition; all employees, representatives and agents thereof; 
and all members of the immediate family or household of any such 
individual, employee, representative, or agent.
    4. Any individual or entity that uses Federal funds to develop the 
proposed solution now or any time in the past, unless such use is 
consistent with the grant award, or other applicable Federal funds 
awarding document. NOTE: Submissions that propose to improve or adapt 
existing federally funded technologies for the solution sought in this 
prize competition are eligible.
    Consultation: Fish recovery program managers and technical 
specialists from across the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological 
Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration-National Marine Fisheries Service, and U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers were consulted in identifying and selecting the 
topic of this prize competition. Direct and indirect input from various 
stakeholders and partners associated with the fish recovery program 
efforts by these agencies were also considered. In addition, the Bureau 
of Reclamation maintains an open invitation to the public to suggest 
prize competition topics at www.usbr.gov/research/challenges.
    Public Disclosure: InnoCentive, Inc. is administering this 
challenge under a challenge support services contract with the Bureau 
of Reclamation. Participation is conditioned on providing the data 
required on InnoCentive's online registration form. Personal data will 
be processed in accordance with InnoCentive's Privacy Policy which can 
be located at http://www.innocentive.com/privacy.php. Before including 
your address, phone number, email address, or other personal 
identifying information in your proposal, you should be aware that the 
Seeker is under no obligation to withhold such information from public 
disclosure, and it may be made publicly available at any time. Neither 
InnoCentive nor the Seeker is responsible for human error, theft, 
destruction, or damage to proposed solutions, or other factors beyond 
its reasonable control. Solver assumes any and all risks and waives any 
and all claims against the Seeker and its related entities, except in 
the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss 
of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or 
consequential, arising from participation in this competition, whether 
the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or 
otherwise.

    Dated: September 30, 2015.
David Raff,
Science Advisor.
[FR Doc. 2015-25319 Filed 10-6-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4332-90- P



                                                    60710                      Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 194 / Wednesday, October 7, 2015 / Notices

                                                    for Survey on Mining Claim (Form                           1. The Water Pavilion located at the               somebody, somewhere may know a
                                                    3860–5).                                                InnoCentive Challenge Center: https://                better way to quantify the availability of
                                                       Description of Respondents: Owners                   www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/                     food sources for threatened and
                                                    of unpatented mining claims and mill                    browse.                                               endangered fish. The prize competition
                                                    sites upon the public lands, and of                        2. U.S. Federal Government Challenge               approach enables us to reach new
                                                    reserved mineral lands of the United                    Platform: www.Challenge.gov.                          sources of potential solvers to discover
                                                    States, National Forests, and National                     3. The Nature Open Innovation                      other technologies that could be
                                                    Parks.                                                  Pavilion at http://www.nature.com/                    adopted for this purpose; or generate
                                                       Estimated Annual Responses: 10                       openinnovation/index.html.                            new solutions that would not likely be
                                                    responses.                                                 4. The Scientific American Citizen                 accomplished by standard contractual
                                                       Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 496                   Science Center at http://                             methods.
                                                    hours.                                                  www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-                      Challenge Summary: Accurate food
                                                    Jean Sonneman,                                          science/.                                             counts, such as zooplankton and drift
                                                                                                               InnoCentive, Inc. is administering this            invertebrates, are instrumental in fish
                                                    Information Collection Clearance Officer,
                                                    Bureau of Land Management.                              challenge under a challenge support                   habitat evaluation and restoration in our
                                                                                                            services contract with the Bureau of                  rivers and streams. Although technology
                                                    [FR Doc. 2015–25545 Filed 10–6–15; 8:45 am]
                                                                                                            Reclamation. These Web sites will re-                 has been developed for automated
                                                    BILLING CODE 4310–84–P
                                                                                                            direct the Solver community to the                    detection and identification of
                                                                                                            InnoCentive Challenge Center as the                   zooplankton and drift invertebrates in
                                                    DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR                              administrator for this prize competition.             oceanographic settings, they have not
                                                                                                            Additional details for this prize                     been developed for the unique
                                                    Bureau of Reclamation                                   competition, including the Challenge                  environmental conditions in rivers and
                                                                                                            Agreement specific for this prize                     estuaries. High flow rates and turbidity
                                                    [RR0810000, 15XR0680A1,                                                                                       cause problems with automated visual
                                                                                                            competition, can be accessed through
                                                    RY.1541CH20.1430001]
                                                                                                            any of these prize competition web                    systems used today. The main obstacle
                                                    Announcement of Requirements and                        addresses. The Challenge Agreement                    in estuaries is turbidity while the main
                                                    Registration for a Prize Competition                    contains more details of the prize                    obstacle in river systems is flow
                                                    Seeking Methods or Devices That can                     competition rules and terms that Solvers              velocity. In addition, the horizontal
                                                    Quantify Drift Invertebrates in River                   must agree with to be eligible to                     nature of rivers invokes problems not
                                                    and Estuary Systems                                     compete.                                              encountered in deep ocean waters (e.g.,
                                                                                                                                                                  sunlight effects at the surface of water
                                                                                                            FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
                                                    AGENCY:   Bureau of Reclamation,                                                                              and the mixing of food sources
                                                    Interior.                                               Challenge Manager: Dr. David Raff
                                                                                                                                                                  throughout the water column in rivers
                                                                                                            Science Advisor, Bureau of
                                                    ACTION: Notice.                                                                                               due to turbulence as opposed to more
                                                                                                            Reclamation, (202) 513–0516, draff@
                                                                                                                                                                  stratified food webs in ocean waters).
                                                    SUMMARY:   The Bureau of Reclamation,                   usbr.gov; or Mr. Chuck Hennig, (303)
                                                                                                                                                                  We would like to identify devices/
                                                    in collaboration with other federal                     445–2134, chennig@usbr.gov.
                                                                                                                                                                  methods that can detect, count, and
                                                    agencies (National Oceanic and                          SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The                        identify zooplankton and drift
                                                    Atmospheric Administration-National                     Bureau of Reclamation is announcing                   invertebrates in an economical way in
                                                    Marine Fisheries Service, U.S.                          this prize competition in compliance                  rivers and estuary systems. There is
                                                    Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and                        with 15 U.S. Code 3719, Prize                         potential for future collaboration with
                                                    Wildlife Service, and U.S. Army Corps                   Competitions. Habitat restoration,                    the Seeker in developing and testing
                                                    of Engineers) is announcing a prize                     improvement, and creation in rivers,                  winning solutions.
                                                    competition for seeking a way to                        streams, and estuaries are key elements                  This is a Theoretical Challenge that
                                                    economically detect, count, and identify                for the recovery of salmon, trout, and                requires only a written proposal to be
                                                    zooplankton and drift invertebrates in                  other critical fish species in the United             submitted. The Challenge award will be
                                                    river and estuary systems. Problems                     States. Millions of dollars are spent                 contingent upon theoretical evaluation
                                                    identified that prevent the simple                      annually on activities such as                        of the proposal by the Bureau of
                                                    transfer of oceanographic techniques to                 manipulating flow regimes, adding                     Reclamation (Seeker). The Seeker has a
                                                    rivers and streams are higher water                     structural elements such as wood or                   total prize pool budget of $30,000 to pay
                                                    velocities, turbidity, higher surface/                  rock, reconnecting rivers with their                  the top three submission(s) that meet or
                                                    depth ratio, and costs (time and money).                floodplains, and restoring wetlands. A                exceed the criteria below, an award of
                                                    DATES: Listed below are the specific                    critical aspect in evaluating the                     $10,000 each. No awards are guaranteed
                                                    dates pertaining to this prize                          effectiveness of these habitat                        unless they meet or exceed the criteria,
                                                    competition:                                            manipulations is understanding how                    and more than one award is not
                                                       1. Submission period begins on                       they influence the food resources                     guaranteed. If only a single submission
                                                    October 7, 2015.                                        available to critical fish species targeted           meets or exceeds the criteria, the prize
                                                       2. Submission period ends on                         for recovery and protection. Yet despite              award may be as high as $15,000.
                                                    November 16, 2015.                                      its importance, quantification of food                   To receive an award, the Solvers will
                                                       3. Judging period ends on January 15,                resources has proven difficult.                       not have to transfer their exclusive
                                                    2016.                                                      A solution is being pursued through                intellectual property rights to the
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                                       4. Winners announced by January 29,                  a prize competition because the Bureau                Seeker. Instead, they will grant to the
                                                    2016.                                                   of Reclamation and the collaborating                  Seeker a non-exclusive license to
                                                    ADDRESSES: The Quantifying Drift                        Federal agencies want to seek                         practice their solutions.
                                                    Invertebrates in River and Estuary                      innovative solutions from those beyond                   The Seeker believes there might be a
                                                    Systems Prize Competition will be                       the usual sources of potential solvers                potential for future collaboration with
                                                    posted on the following crowd-sourcing                  and experts that commonly work in the                 awarded Solver(s), although such
                                                    platforms where Solvers can register for                fish recovery management domain. We                   collaboration is not guaranteed. The
                                                    this prize competition:                                 find ourselves often wondering if                     Seeker may also encourage Solver(s) to


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                                                                               Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 194 / Wednesday, October 7, 2015 / Notices                                             60711

                                                    further develop and test their winning                  drift algae, detritus and other materials).              a. Detect representative samples of
                                                    submissions through subsequent                          The difficulties during the pilot were                drift invertebrates (1–20 mm). This
                                                    round(s) of competition. Solvers should                 likely caused by                                      should include those targeted items
                                                    mention if they have the ability for                    • High water velocity                                 floating on the surface to a high degree
                                                    subsequent design and development                       • Low water clarity (turbidity)                       as well as those in the water column.
                                                    phases and would be willing to consider                 • Small target size (1–20 mm)                         Representative samples of drift
                                                    future collaborations and/or subsequent                    Another big difference between the                 invertebrates in California and other
                                                    competitions.                                           marine ocean environment and the                      localities are available at the California
                                                       Background: Habitat restoration is                   freshwater and estuarine environment is               Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
                                                    considered a key element of fish                        that ocean monitoring tends to be                     Aquatic Bioassessment Laboratory
                                                    recovery, and the quality of habitat and                vertical (in the water column) and items              digital reference collections (http://
                                                    food resources available to fish often                  on the surface are not a large percentage             www.dfg.ca.gov/abl/Lab/
                                                    needs to be evaluated before and after                  of the whole so they can be ignored. In               referencecollection.asp).
                                                    restoration actions. Habitats are often                 a stream, items on the surface are a high                b. Count the targeted items in samples
                                                    designed to provide increased foraging                  percentage of the overall water column,               (sort out debris from targeted
                                                    and rearing habitats at appropriate                     and sunlight at the surface affects the               zooplankton and invertebrates to
                                                    spatial and temporal scales. Abundance                  imaging equipment considerably. It is                 minimize false positives).
                                                    of key food resources for fish such as                                                                           c. Identify the number and taxonomic
                                                                                                            difficult to get accurate measurements if
                                                    zooplankton and drift invertebrate (1                                                                         family (or groups of morphologically
                                                                                                            targeted items on the surface are
                                                    mm to 20 mm in size) is time-intensive                                                                        similar families) of specimens detected
                                                                                                            ignored.
                                                    and expensive to measure, especially for                                                                      (Note: exact identification of each
                                                                                                               The Challenge: A device/method is
                                                    juvenile salmon in a highly dynamic                                                                           species is not as critical as identification
                                                                                                            sought that could be deployed to collect
                                                    and complex system such as the                                                                                of the total amount of food available to
                                                                                                            data continuously (over hours,
                                                    Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta                                                                                  fish).
                                                                                                            preferably days) to capture tidal and                    2. Requirement no. 1 must be done
                                                    (California).
                                                                                                            day/night variation in prey abundance                 under the following conditions:
                                                       Traditional sampling methods involve
                                                                                                            in rivers and streams. By                                a. Velocities between 0 and 1.5 meters
                                                    the use of towed nets (for slow-moving
                                                    water) or stationary nets (for fast-moving              simultaneously deploying multiple                     per second.
                                                    water) that collect organisms from the                  units, scientists could measure                          b. Turbidity between 0 and 100
                                                    water column. Both the field collection                 important spatial and temporal variation              Nephelometric Turbidity Units.
                                                    of samples and the subsequent sorting                   such as depth stratification and source/                 c. Function in shallow water (less
                                                    and identification of collected                         sink food web dynamics.                               than 1 m) and deep water (up to 20m).
                                                    invertebrates are time-intensive and                       The device/method must detect,                        d. Function over a long period of
                                                    expensive, and agencies lacking                         count, and identify drift invertebrates               continuous deployment (greater than 24
                                                    technical expertise must often rely on                  automatically in a size range of 1 to 20              hours but preferably many days).
                                                    outside experts to process samples.                     mm in a cost-effective method.                           e. Operate without natural light (at
                                                    Because of the high costs associated                       Our goal is to identify ideas and help             night or dark spaces, provides own light
                                                    with these traditional methods, the                     promote their testing and manufacture                 source as needed).
                                                                                                            for use in the industry. There is                        f. Operate under bright light
                                                    spatial and temporal extent of sampling
                                                                                                            potential for awarded Solvers who are                 conditions near the surface in the
                                                    is often inadequate to characterize food
                                                                                                            interested to continue in the                         daytime.
                                                    availability at scales that are biologically                                                                     3. If the device is submersible in
                                                    relevant.                                               development of these ideas for a
                                                                                                            commercial product.                                   water, it should be durable enough to be
                                                       In the marine science community,
                                                                                                               Multiple government agencies would                 deployable when towed off a boat.
                                                    significant advances have been made in                                                                           4. If optical, it should be able to
                                                    plankton monitoring through the use of                  likely be interested in this solution
                                                                                                            (Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological               capture images without a blur.
                                                    devices that capture high-resolution                                                                             5. The device/method must be able to
                                                    images of particles (≤100 mm) and                       Survey, National Oceanic and
                                                                                                            Atmospheric Administration-National                   accurately sample and image available
                                                    invertebrates. These devices produce a                                                                        drift invertebrates (food) with 95
                                                    catalog of time-stamped images that can                 Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Army
                                                                                                            Corps of Engineers, State Fish and                    percent accuracy.
                                                    be processed to various taxonomic                                                                                6. The device/method must measure
                                                    levels with image analysis software,                    Wildlife agencies, and others).
                                                                                                                                                                  the size of each target item within 0.5
                                                    allowing the abundance of organisms in                  Things To Avoid                                       mm or 10 percent of item size.
                                                    a known volume of water to be                                                                                    7. The total cost of the equipment
                                                    quantified. Examples can be found in                      1. Equipment made today for
                                                                                                            oceanographic study—although a good                   should be targeted to not exceed $100K
                                                    the following links: http://                                                                                  when produced in larger quantities.
                                                    jaffeweb.ucsd.edu/node/317, http://                     place to start, we are familiar with what
                                                                                                            exists and our Challenge is to go beyond                 8. The proposed system should offer
                                                    www.artynet.fr/hydropticREDIRIDEM/                                                                            the Seeker client ‘‘freedom to practice.’’
                                                    uvp.html.                                               what exists for our particular problems
                                                                                                            in freshwater systems.                                There should be no third-party patent
                                                       Analogous technologies for freshwater                                                                      art preventing the use of specific
                                                    environments do not exist, but could be                   2. A simple list of equipment without
                                                                                                            explanation of how they work in concert               equipment and materials for their
                                                    developed to continuously monitor the
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                                                                                                            will not suffice as a description of the              commercial application.
                                                    prey abundances and dynamics in key
                                                    locations for migrating and rearing                     system.                                               Nice to Have
                                                    fishes. Pilot systems have been tested in               Any Proposed Solution Should Address                    Include ability to measure flow
                                                    the freshwater environment, but there                   the Following Technical Requirements                  entering device, such that number of
                                                    have been problems with image capture,                                                                        food particles per volume of water is
                                                    leading to poor image quality (blurred)                 Must Haves                                            estimable.
                                                    and poor identification (low probability                  1. The device/method should be able                   Project Deliverables: This is a
                                                    of differentiating target organisms from                to:                                                   Theoretical Challenge that requires only


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                                                    60712                      Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 194 / Wednesday, October 7, 2015 / Notices

                                                    a written proposal to be submitted. The                 provided. Decisions by the Seeker                     across the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S.
                                                    Challenge award will be contingent                      cannot be contested.                                  Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and
                                                    upon theoretical evaluation of the                        Submitted solutions will be evaluated               Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and
                                                    proposal by the Seeker. The submitted                   by a Judging Panel composed of                        Atmospheric Administration-National
                                                    proposal should include the following:                  scientists, engineers, and other related              Marine Fisheries Service, and U.S.
                                                       1. Detailed description of a method/                 technical experts. The Judging Panel                  Army Corps of Engineers were
                                                    device that can detect, count, and                      will also have consultation access to                 consulted in identifying and selecting
                                                    identify drift invertebrates in fresh                   technical experts outside of their                    the topic of this prize competition.
                                                    water rivers and streams. The Solver                    expertise, as determined necessary, to                Direct and indirect input from various
                                                    must describe with a high level of                      evaluate specific submissions.                        stakeholders and partners associated
                                                    technical detail as to how the system                     Eligibility Rules: To be able to win a
                                                                                                                                                                  with the fish recovery program efforts
                                                    would meet or not meet each of the                      prize under this competition, an
                                                                                                            individual or entity must:                            by these agencies were also considered.
                                                    ‘‘must have’’ and ‘‘nice to have’’
                                                                                                              1. Agree to the rules of the                        In addition, the Bureau of Reclamation
                                                    attributes in Technical Requirements
                                                    described above. The Solver should                      competition (15 U.S. Code 3719(g)(1));                maintains an open invitation to the
                                                    expect that their submittal will be                       2. Be an entity that is incorporated in             public to suggest prize competition
                                                    reviewed by experts in the field of                     and maintains a primary place of                      topics at www.usbr.gov/research/
                                                    biology and multiple fields of                          business in the United States, or (b) in              challenges.
                                                    engineering.                                            the case of an individual, a citizen or                  Public Disclosure: InnoCentive, Inc. is
                                                       2. Rationale as to why the Solver                    permanent resident of the United States               administering this challenge under a
                                                    believes that the proposed method/                      (15 U.S. Code 3719(g)(3));                            challenge support services contract with
                                                    device will work. This rationale should                   3. Not be a Federal entity or Federal               the Bureau of Reclamation. Participation
                                                    address each of the Technical                           employee acting within the scope of                   is conditioned on providing the data
                                                    Requirements described in the Detailed                  their employment; (15 U.S. Code
                                                                                                                                                                  required on InnoCentive’s online
                                                    Description and should be supported                     3719(g)(4));
                                                                                                              4. Assume risks and waive claims                    registration form. Personal data will be
                                                    with relevant examples.                                                                                       processed in accordance with
                                                       3. The active principle applied for                  against the Federal Government and its
                                                                                                            related entities (15 U.S. Code                        InnoCentive’s Privacy Policy which can
                                                    detection and quantification shall be
                                                                                                            3719(i)(1)(B)); and,                                  be located at http://
                                                    described in detail. The detecting
                                                                                                              5. Not use Federal facilities, or                   www.innocentive.com/privacy.php.
                                                    technology shall be described in detail.
                                                    Potential technology suppliers shall be                 consult with Federal employees during                 Before including your address, phone
                                                    identified.                                             the competition unless the facilities and             number, email address, or other
                                                       4. Sufficient data to support claims, if             employees are made available to all                   personal identifying information in your
                                                    available.                                              individuals and entities participating in             proposal, you should be aware that the
                                                       5. List of equipment required with                   the competition on an equitable basis.                Seeker is under no obligation to
                                                    cost estimates.                                           The following individuals or entities               withhold such information from public
                                                       6. The Solver needs to describe how                  are not eligible regardless of whether                disclosure, and it may be made publicly
                                                    deployable and workable the system                      they meet the criteria set forth above:               available at any time. Neither
                                                    would be under a wide variety of                          1. Any individual who employs an                    InnoCentive nor the Seeker is
                                                    environmental conditions including                      evaluator on the Judging Panel or                     responsible for human error, theft,
                                                    water depths, light, turbidity, salinity,               otherwise has a material business                     destruction, or damage to proposed
                                                    velocities, and turbulence such as those                relationship or affiliation with any                  solutions, or other factors beyond its
                                                    found in small to large streams in the                  Judge.
                                                                                                                                                                  reasonable control. Solver assumes any
                                                    western United States.                                    2. Any individual who is a member of
                                                                                                            any Judge’s immediate family or                       and all risks and waives any and all
                                                       The proposal should not include any                                                                        claims against the Seeker and its related
                                                    personal identifying information (name,                 household.
                                                                                                              3. The Seeker, participating                        entities, except in the case of willful
                                                    username, company, address, phone,                                                                            misconduct, for any injury, death,
                                                    email, personal Web site, resume, etc.).                organizations, and any advertising
                                                                                                            agency, contractor or other individual or             damage, or loss of property, revenue, or
                                                       The Challenge award will be
                                                                                                            organization involved with the design,                profits, whether direct, indirect, or
                                                    contingent upon theoretical evaluation
                                                    of the proposal by the Seeker against the               production, promotion, execution, or                  consequential, arising from
                                                    Technical Requirements.                                 distribution of the prize competition; all            participation in this competition,
                                                       Solutions that meet the requirements                 employees, representatives and agents                 whether the injury, death, damage, or
                                                    will also be judged on the following                    thereof; and all members of the                       loss arises through negligence or
                                                    items in order of priority:                             immediate family or household of any                  otherwise.
                                                       • Practical feasibility;                             such individual, employee,                              Dated: September 30, 2015.
                                                       • Detection precision;                               representative, or agent.
                                                                                                                                                                  David Raff,
                                                       • Manufacturing cost;                                  4. Any individual or entity that uses
                                                       • Required power source; and                         Federal funds to develop the proposed                 Science Advisor.
                                                       • Extra weight/space;                                solution now or any time in the past,                 [FR Doc. 2015–25319 Filed 10–6–15; 8:45 am]
                                                       • Time to market.                                    unless such use is consistent with the
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES




                                                                                                                                                                  BILLING CODE 4332–90– P
                                                       Judging: After the Challenge deadline,               grant award, or other applicable Federal
                                                    the Seeker will evaluate the submissions                funds awarding document. NOTE:
                                                    and make a decision with regards to the                 Submissions that propose to improve or
                                                    winning solution(s). All Solvers that                   adapt existing federally funded
                                                    submitted a proposal will be notified on                technologies for the solution sought in
                                                    the status of their submissions.                        this prize competition are eligible.
                                                    However, no detailed evaluation of                        Consultation: Fish recovery program
                                                    individual submissions will be                          managers and technical specialists from


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Document Created: 2015-12-15 08:48:51
Document Modified: 2015-12-15 08:48:51
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionNotices
ActionNotice.
DatesListed below are the specific dates pertaining to this prize competition:
ContactChallenge Manager: Dr. David Raff Science Advisor, Bureau of Reclamation, (202) 513-0516, [email protected]; or Mr. Chuck Hennig, (303) 445-2134, [email protected]
FR Citation80 FR 60710 

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